As is well known, poker machines consist of a number of reels or drums rotating about a horizontal axis, there being arranged around the circumference of each drum a plurality of symbols which may be playing cards, fruit or any other arbitrarily chosen symbols, at least one symbol from each drum being visible simultaneously behind a viewing window in the front of the machine. Prizes are won by causing particular combinations of symbols to appear in the window. For a machine using playing cards as symbols, for example, and having four drums, the appearance of four aces, that is an ace on each drum, in the viewing window will normally give rise to a substantial prize. On the other hand the appearance of, for example four nines will usually give rise to a lesser prize, on the basis that nines occur with greater frequency on the drums than aces.
On an ordinary machine the appearance of, for example four aces would give rise to a predetermined prize. It has however been proposed, as a means of introducing a certain amount of variety into the playing of the machine, to have, in addition to the normal drums or reels, an additional drum which instead of displaying symbols shows ratios such as 1:1 (evens), 2:1, 3:1 etc. The significance of these is that if a paying combination is exhibited, alongside it will appear a particular ratio and the actual prize gained will be an amount displayed on the front of the machine multiplied by the ratio displayed.
The present invention provides improvement on this arrangement in that it provides a construction in which not only is the ratio displayed directly adjacent to a table of prizes to enable a player to consult a column of figures and thus obtain a direct indication of the prize that he wins, without the need for mental arithmetic, but also enables different odds to be applied to different combinations. In known machines with variable odds the same odds are applied to all prize winning combinations.
The present invention consists in an odds indicator for a poker machine consisting of a cylinder having on its external surface a plurality of axially distributed bands each band bearing on its circumference a plurality of circumferentially spaced indicia, each indicating a ratio by which a prize offered for a prize winning combination is to be multiplied, one ratio of the ratios displayed on each band being visible through a viewing window in the front of the machine in a column one above the other or side by side, there being displayed on the front of the machine a list of prize winning combinations opposite each of which, or a number of which, one of the visible ratios appears and an indication of the prize to be delivered on achieving that particular combination when any of the ratios displayed on a band is visible, means being provided for rotation of the cylinder to enable the visible ratios to be changed.